Measures to increase EAT

EAT is an acronym for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and is the most important item for page quality evaluation in Google’s search quality evaluation guidelines . It is one of It is considered that the height of EAT is reflected in the ranking even in the actual search order, and securing EAT is an essential element in advancing SEO measures.However, EAT is not as simple as it can be said in a single word, and it is not something that can be optimized immediately if measures are taken.

What is EAT

Although it was stated that EAT refers to Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness , the targets of each EAT are referred to in the guidelines as follows.

E: Specialty of main content creator

A: Main content creator, main content itself, website authority

T: Main content creator, main content itself, website reliability

Annoying thing, the search quality evaluation guidelines in, EAT does not mean each of the definition is shown in greater detail.Therefore, in order to understand what nuance Google uses the word EAT , you need to read the Search Quality Assessment Guidelines .

We will refer to EAT later by Google, but we generally understand it as follows.

Expertise

Whether you are familiar with the topic, such as having qualifications and experience, and publish it as useful content for users

Authoritativeness

Whether you have received evaluations from others in the form of links from other highly specialized sites, awards, recommendations, etc.

Trustworthiness

Whether you can trust that using the information and services of the site will not be a problem

Although EAT is basically spoken in parallel in many cases, the following description can be seen in the guidelines.

From this, it can be said that without expertise, it is basically impossible to build authority and reliability , and it is thought that the specialty of EAT is the basis.

Page Quality Rating and EAT

The search quality evaluation guidelines list the following five items in order as the most important items for page evaluation.

Page purpose

EAT

Quality and quantity of main content

Information about website and main content creators

Website and main content creator reputation

Among these, we mention that the purpose of the page should be considered first.A page is rated as the lowest quality if it is not designed to serve the user, such as spreading hate on the page, doing harm, or misleading or fooling the user.

Only when it is recognized that the purpose of the page is to serve the user is another aspect of page evaluation. At that time, EAT is listed next to the purpose of the page and is considered to be very important.

EAT and Important for YMYL Pages

YMYL is “a page that may affect people’s well-being, health, financial stability, and safety”, and is referred to in Google’s search quality evaluation guidelines as “Your Money or Your Life”. YMYL pages have very high quality evaluation standards, and EAT is very important, Because low-quality YMYL information can adversely affect people’s well-being, health, financial stability, and safety.

The bad effects caused by poor quality YMYL pages are that compared to pages that are not in the YMYL field, you will lose money due to fraud, damage your health due to incorrect information, and create social discord. Thus, one can imagine that the information obtained from the landing site may inflict significant personal or social damage. Therefore, especially on YMYL pages, it is considered that Google has a high EAT , and therefore highly evaluates information that is likely to be correct.

As far as the guidelines are read, it seems that EAT is so important that it seems that the EAT height of YMYL pages and the high page quality are almost the same . Of course, EAT is considered even if it is not a YMYL page, but the required level of EAT differs depending on the field.

Pages with titles or images that are shocking or have annoying ads or sub-content

Low EAT

Content created by people without explicit expertise

The site is not authoritative in its field (eg tax information on the cooking site)

If the main content is unreliable (eg shopping pages with insecure communications)

It is not created for the purpose of helping users

It doesn’t work well, even if it was created for useful purposes

Main content is duplicated * Excluding legally duplicated content

Has been tampered with or hacked

How to Increase EAT

It should be noted that the evaluation points described in the search quality evaluation guidelines are only what Google wants to evaluate, not the elements that the algorithm directly evaluates.

In addition, Google’s John Mueller has said that authority is not scored, and it seems that numerical values ​​are not calculated by algorithms.

Therefore, it may be safe to assume that EAT is not quantitative, and it is necessary to improve qualitative things such as impressions of general users and their representative quality evaluators.

Therefore, by following the evaluation points shown in the guidelines and the ideal image of the site that Google wants to evaluate further, the possibility that the search ranking will improve will increase.

At this time, it is considered that it is difficult to improve the ranking if it is not possible to firmly inform Google that the site and author’s EAT is high, so we will introduce the measures we think about how to tell google about it.

Change Page Title

The guideline clearly states that easy-to-understand title setting is a condition for high-quality pages, and titles appropriate to the content content enhance the search experience.Above all, it is possible to take measures with extremely low man-hours.

Creating high quality content

Creating high quality content is a very important starting point for EAT .In order to provide content that is useful to users with specialized expertise, it is necessary to understand what users want and process it into a form that is easy for users to consume (articles, images, videos, games, services, etc.). .

If it is an article, create it as if it is easy for users to understand, and in a quantity that balances completeness and simplicity according to the topic.

Update content appropriately

The guideline also states that (depending on the topic) the article should be updated appropriately, and it is important for reducing the risk of information becoming outdated and becoming incorrect information and misleading users. I can think.Inappropriate information can, in some cases, cause trouble with users and lead to further loss of reliability.

Registration and operation of Google My Business

Especially for store-based businesses, registration of Google My Business is very important.

Since Google authentication (owner confirmation) is required when registering for Google My Business , it is believed that Google will directly confirm the existence of the business in the process, and that it will gain credibility.It’s also important to post as much information as possible within My Business and keep it up to date.

Review management in Google My Business

If you register with Google My Business , you may get a word of mouth evaluation, but even if it is a negative word of mouth, by responding sincerely, it may be possible to prevent further negative evaluation.

HTTPS conversion

Making HTTPS is a direct SEO ranking signal (although the effect is not so great), and above all, it is necessary for users to feel secure and trust that this site is safe.

Of course, HTTPS is not enough for security, so it is necessary to pay close attention to the safety of websites such as countermeasures against tampering and hacking.

Enhancement of website information

The following measures can be considered regarding website information.Linking to a page outside the site is not enough, and creating the page inside the site is ideal.

Website operator summary (including name, address, phone number)

If the website operator is an organization, an overview of who is responsible

Profiles showing the expertise of website operators and managers

Create an inquiry page and link to it from an easy-to-understand location on the site

Keep your site copyright statement up to date

Creating a privacy policy or terms of use page

Create an edit policy page (especially for publishers)

Create a cancellation / refund policy page (especially for EC sites)

If there is an award history etc.

Enhancement of author information

It is very important that authors with expertise create content.We will clearly show our expertise to Google and users through the following measures.

Author page creation

Profile showing author’s specialty

Be sure to specify any relevant qualifications

Set up an author box on the article page

Link to author’s SNS etc.

Information is also described in the author property of structured data such as Article

Structured data

The structured data also has the purpose of producing a rich result, but here we will make markup to clearly show the expertise, authority, and credibility of the website and the author to Google robots.

Disclosure of whois information

It is recommended to put the information of the website operator in the whois information of the domain .I think it is better to change if you are using the name agency service of a domain company or if you are in the name of a company that undertakes web production.

Acquisition of link citation

The acquisition of links has been important in SEO even before the word EAT (especially authoritative) was mentioned, but continuing to acquire links is the most difficult measure and cannot be done overnight.In order to get links from others, it is necessary to continuously and strategically publish useful (≒ highly specialized) content that makes you want to link.

However, building a self-made link for the purpose of SEO ranking or purchasing a link seems to be a quick way to get a link, but it is against Google’s guidelines and the risk of penalty is not recommended highly .

Ideally, external reference should be acquired as a link, but it is also considered effective in the form of citation (mention) without a link.

Increased number of brand searches

Brand searches can be an indicator of what a brand is looking for.It will not be so difficult to temporarily increase it by promotion etc., but it is necessary to take continuous measures to get the influx after the promotion is over and the brand is recognized and evaluated by users. .

Measures to be taken on the medical and health page

The medical and health pages are undergoing major changes with each update, and it seems that Google is making the most efforts to improve search results in this field.

One of the characteristics of the fluctuations is that not only affiliate sites but also expert sites have fallen , so it is considered that the authority and reliability of EAT have a great influence.

In this field, it is natural that the expert who holds the qualification actually creates it (minimum condition), and in addition, obtains the evaluation from others, and ensures its high authority and credibility. It is thought that it will be important to inform Google.

Even if the site is currently in the top rank, it may fall in future updates, so continuous measures are necessary to maintain the ranking.On the other hand, if the site has fallen due to fluctuations and you are aiming for higher ranking again, it is urgent to acquire authority and credibility.However, if the background is not specialized in the first place, it may be difficult to acquire authority and credibility, and it may be necessary to secure the expertise and restart, or change the countermeasure field.

EAT measures for pages other than YMYL

For non- YMYL pages, EAT is less important than YMYL pages , but nonetheless it is taken into account. This field expertise is called “everyday expertise” by Google in its search quality assessment guidelines .

It is “specialty in everyday fields that does not require formal qualifications”, and it can be read from the content.

For a blog article, for example, you can tell if someone who is familiar with the topic is writing just by reading the article.Also, since official awards and evaluations by other experts are not necessary, it is said that the index such as whether it is liked or popular in user reviews will be the judgment material, so the authority is also compared with the YMYL page. It does not matter what is strict and official.

In this field, it seems important to improve the quantity and quality of original content that makes the most of the expertise and increase the number of fans.

Summary

The word EAT itself is a relatively new word mentioned in the search quality assessment guidelines , but the basics of continuing to create quality content that is appreciated by others have not changed.However, since the importance of EAT has definitely increased with each update, it is necessary to make sure that both the user and the search engine are properly notified of the height of EAT.

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